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welcome to night eating!
Please read the following as it contains important information for optimal site
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  If you haven't visited the homepage, you're missing out on some important info, so I'll just give you a "heads up" here!
You've reached "night eating," part of the emotional feelings network of sites. If you scroll
down to the footer on this page, you'll see the complete listing of all the sites in the network!
All of the sites
in the emotional feelings network of sites are linked together thru a very complete network of underlined link words. Anytime you see an underlined link word, if you should be
interested in more information concerning that word, simply click on it & a new browser window will appear. The page that
opens up will give you an entire page filled with information concerning the word of
your interest.
the emotional feelings network
of sites was designed like this because as an ex-night eater, I was also faced with many other life dysfunctions,
mental illness I was unaware of, domestic violence, a lack of any positive self esteem & so much more....
As I began my recovery,
I began to slowly discover how all of the subjects contained within the emotional feelings network
of sites are connected to each other. Soon I also discovered that there's power in educating yourself about it
all.
As you gain power thru your newly acquired knowledge, you begin to regain a
sense of control. As you begin to feel better, you become stronger & you're more able to begin your own journey
thru recovery & personal growth. Once you begin, you will see how the subjects contained within this network of sites
really is... all pertinent information for you - as a night eater!
visit the homepage for a better understanding of what's contained within the emotional feelings network of
sites!
thanks for stopping by.... i hope that something
within the network will be of use to you today....
kathleen
Night Eating - Bad Habit
or Disorder That Can Cause Weight Gain?
by Mary Kearl Jun 11th 2009 2:00PM
Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
That's
Fit: Can you describe some of the clear signs and of having "Night Eating Syndrome" (NES) versus just having late-night munchies
every so often?
Allison: Most people have some sort
of snack in the evenings, but the difference is that, with NES, the eating is usually related
to eating in order to fall asleep, and it usually affects the level of hunger during the first half of the day. NES is a disorder
characterized [by] consuming more than a quarter of daily [food] intake after dinner and/or waking up at night to eat at least
twice per week. People who have NES usually have little hunger in the first half of the day. They begin eating more as the
day goes on and, after a while, feel resigned to the fact that they will eat more than they want to in the evening. When people
are waking up [in the middle of the night] to eat, they usually do so about an hour or two after falling asleep. After a while
it becomes "automatic," where they feel drawn to eat as soon as they wake up.
That's Fit: What are some of the long-term and short-term impacts of having NES?
Allison: Most sufferers complain of weight gain as the biggest impact of NES. [Trouble sleeping] is also an issue. Eating is typically the best sleep aid these
individuals have known, so taking away the night-time eating can make insomnia worse, at least for a while. Some of them will never fully sleep
through the night, even with treatment. Night eating can also put a strain on marital or roommate relationships. Many times
persons with NES feel out of control during the night and will eat their children's school snacks or their roommate's food
items.
That's Fit: When does late-night snacking become a
pattern, a harmful one? Can it be treated?
Allison: It is hard to know
when that threshold is crossed. Every individual will differ. Some people enjoy getting up to have a bowl of ice cream every
night, but for others, it interferes with their weight-control goals and leaves them feeling fatigued and guilty. If you are feeling like you need to eat to fall asleep
initially or when you wake up in the middle of the night and do not feel that you can stop it on your own, you may find it
helpful to speak to a professional.
We have tested some medications for treating NES. Sertraline (brand name, Zoloft)
is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that was effective in 70 percent of those who took it in reducing their night-eating
symptoms significantly. Certainly, not everyone responds the same to medications. No other medications have been tested in
randomized-controlled trials, but other agents that have been used to treat binge-eating disorder are also of interest in
treating NES. Here [at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania's
School of Medicine] we have also developed a cognitive behavior therapy program to
treat NES. Preliminary studies show a significant effect on reducing the nocturnal ingestions. Unfortunately, like most types
of disordered eating or mood disorders, it is often the case that symptoms recur once medication is discontinued or if old
habits resurface, particularly during periods of stress. We also know that taking sleeping pills often worsens NES, in that
people feel groggier and have less control of their nighttime eating, but they still get up to eat.
posted 5/28/07
Addiction switching: Quit smoking, but binge?
Many addicts give up one bad habit & pick up another one. Weight-loss expert Madelyn Fernstrom has advice on changing your lifestyle – for good
On this segment of “Today’s Health,”
we look at the phenomenon of switching addictions. That’s when someone who is trying to give up one addiction picks
up another to fill the void. Madelyn Fernstrom, a show contributor and director of the Weight Management Center at the University
of Pittsburgh, was invited on “Today” to tell us why so many of us replace one bad habit with another.
Addictions come in many forms - alcoholism, smoking, overeating, etc. - but they have much in common. For instance, they can help addicts
manage stress or give them a sense that they have control over their lives. So when someone manages to overcome one addiction, they often pick up another. Sometimes people are considered to have addictive personalities, but for most addicts drugs, cigarettes, or food are simply crutches to deal with stress & other issues.
Evidence suggests there are overlapping circuits in the brain that relate to pleasure seeking
& relief from anxiety.
Of
course, we can’t use our biology as an excuse to say, “Well, it’s my personality & I have no
control.” While there may be biological tendencies to have an addiction, you can overcome drinking, smoking & overeating, if you take a step back & get some personal insight into your behavior.
And
when you plan to give up one addiction, be prepared to make some lifestyle changes, so you don’t find yourself dealing with another addiction.
In fact, addicts worry about switching addictions. Many smokers are reluctant to quit, because they’re afraid that they’ll eat more & gain weight.
And
their fear is warranted. Many times smokers will find themselves substituting smoking - an oral behavior - with eating
- another one. Smoking also stimulates metabolism. So even if you don’t eat more, you’ll put on extra pounds,
if you don’t increase your physical activities.
The
best way to avoid gaining weight is to change your lifestyle one or two months before you expect to quit.
The first step to overcome any addiction is facing the fact that you have one & that you need a long-term strategy to deal with it. A support group, such as Alcoholics
Anonymous or Overeaters Anonymous, can be helpful, if you’re comfortable in group settings.
If not,
some have success overcoming an addiction if they do it with someone else who is battling the same problem. But don’t pair up with someone with a different addiction. This can cause you to switch to the other person’s addictions.
So
smokers should pair up with smokers, e.g. If you don’t have someone with whom you can buddy up, you may need
one-on-one counseling with a close friend, a family member, or even a therapist.
Of course, overeaters have a harder time kicking their addiction, because, in a sense, we're all food addicts - we have to eat. And you can’t simply stop eating to overcome your food
addiction. Overeaters often need professional help to them identify the factors that lead to their addiction to food.
While there aren’t any prescription medications to help people with their food cravings, there are some
to help addicts with their need for nicotine or alcohol.
Buproprion,
sold under the brand names Wellbutrin & Zyban, can
help smokers & alcoholics with their cravings & they can sometimes reduce their cravings for food. A newer smoking
cessation prescription medication, Chantix, helps smokers combat the psychological dependence
on cigarettes.
If you’ve
tried to stop smoking and have used nicotine gum, patches & other over-the-counter anti-smoking aids & nothing
has worked, call your doctor. You may need a prescription drug to help you quit.
Smokers need to remember that smoking should be the first addiction to go. Then they can deal with overeating or other addictions later on. So stop smoking, even if it means that you gain 20 pounds. Here are fix tips for ex-smokers who don’t want
to gain weight:
- Think before you eat
- Keep your mouth busy with low-calorie food
& drinks
- Increase your daily physical activities
- Seek professional help, if needed
Madelyn Fernstrom
is the director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh. For more information on the center, go to
http://weightloss.upmc.com/.
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive source:
click here
excerpt: Addiction and Weight Loss Surgery: A Social Worker's Perspective
Substituting One Addiction for Another
Fiona simply switched one addiction for another. It's not uncommon
for a person who gives up one addictive behavior to pick up another addictive behavior. Fiona had quit using food as a soothing
substance in her life. The alcohol came in and filled that void.
Switching addictions is also demonstrated when a
person develops an unhealthy relationship with eating and exercise following weight loss.
Exercise can become a way
to compensate for overeating, and can turn into what is called exercise bulimia. It's not bad to exercise as part of a plan
to control one's weight. But if the overeating becomes excessive, and then is replaced by excessive exercise -- that's a problem.
Your physical health can actually be threatened -- not to mention your peace of mind.
The other common addiction people
switch to is spending. Many weight loss surgery patients get such a kick out of shopping for new clothes that they get a little
carried away – and then they get hooked. Having been so burdened by obesity in the past, weight loss surgery patients
commonly begin to leave the house more, because they’re now physically able to, and they shop more frequently. Shopping
can morph into a mood-changing activity, and hence, an addiction.
Several steps can be taken to address the experience of switching
addictions:
- Identify your addiction(s), both old and potential new ones,
and the extent to which it is (they are) ruling your life.
- Educate yourself about a particular addiction by doing research
and talking to professionals who have knowledge and experience in that area.
- Seek out a knowledgeable therapist if you are unable to control
your addictive behavior on your own.
- Join a support group that addresses your specific addiction,
such as overeaters anonymous, alcoholics anonymous, debtors anonymous, etc.
Remember, addictions are very common and nothing to be ashamed
of. But, they are hard to get rid of in isolation. Get help if you are struggling. And keep in mind any addictions left untreated
absolutely have a potential to take over your life.
august 10th, 2005
hi! the article posted immediately below
is the closest descrition to my night eating habits that I have found yet. It's also the closet description to what I believe
is the cause of night eating habits.
while i truly believe that night eating is a habit, formed thru a person's need to cope with
negative factors in life, I believe that it's uniquely individualized for each person experiencing the syndrome. feelings
& emotions are behind it all, those that we have "stuffed" or "buried" somewhere along the path of our lives
or presently being stuffed or ignored because of our lack of knowledge of how to cope with something in our lives.
we all hold false beliefs, misconceptions & feel an inner need to find peace
and happiness in our lives. these falso beliefs and misconceptions are standing in our way. sometimes sublimnal messages are
sent thru our brains that reinforce our faulty thinking. sometimes what we are feeling is because of an unconscious thought
or problem that is bothering us.
following through the steps in the article to the left is highly suggested by this ex-night
eater. although i am not a professional, it's still an advantage to have been a night eater and to have overcome it. while
i also believe that night eating, just like alcoholism, is a habit that lies in wait, for us to weaken and re-establish
its parameters in some crisis or unnerving situation in our lives, i also believe that being vigilent in recognizing how you are
feeling and coping immediately in a positive manner can keep it at bay.
also read the article on the right - "a body craves," below. it's an awesome understanding
of some of our body's mysteries that pertain to our eating habits....
stand strong and check back to this page often for new articles and understanding!
peace & hopefulness to you all!!!!
Kathleen
Wait Until Dark — Night Eating Syndrome
Today’s Dietitian
By Mary Kaye Sawyer-Morse, PhD, RD
Vol. 6, No. 8, p. 28
This isn't your occasional
midnight snack. Night eating syndrome is a persistent & troubling disturbance in eating
patterns.
Night has fallen & the
house is quiet except for the soft thump of a refrigerator door closing. Its light illuminates a dark, empty kitchen—except
for the solitary eater. Kathy* doesn’t eat much during the day & instead finds herself eating most of her daily
intake of food in the evening & late at night. She describes her life as stressful; Kathy is a single parent w/two children & a demanding job. She'd like to lose the 40 pounds she has gained over the
past couple of years but is depressed & feels her situation is hopeless.
Defining Night Eating Syndrome
Kathy’s situation
is typical of someone experiencing night eating syndrome (NES). NES may include morning
anorexia w/evening hyperphagia & sleep disturbances but hasn't yet been formally defined as an eating disorder, according to Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
The syndrome is
thought to be caused by a combination of biological, genetic & emotional factors w/some research indicating that the night eater may be suffering from a failure of the body to respond appropriately to stress.1
The signs & symptoms
of NES include the following:
- Not feeling hungry in the morning. Typically the person has little or no appetite for breakfast & delays the first meal for several
hours after waking.
- Overeating in the evening. In contrast to a lack
of appetite in the morning, the person consumes more than 1/2 of his or her daily food intake after dinner but before breakfast
& often has more food after dinner than during that meal.
- Difficulty falling asleep. The individual finds
it hard to fall asleep. He or she may toss & turn for some time & feel a need to eat something just before going to bed to help him or her fall asleep faster.
- Waking at night & eating. The person may wake
at least once during the night & find it necessary to eat before being able to fall asleep again.
- The eating produces feelings of guilt & shame, not enjoyment.
- Feeling depressed. In addition to eating & sleeping problems, the individual may feel sad or disconsolate. Especially at night, the individual may be moody, tense, anxious, or agitated.
Not familiar with NES? Not
surprising. While the syndrome was first described in 1955, it frequently goes unrecognized by healthcare professionals. NES
isn't simply bad habits.
As stated above, it includes
disordered eating & sleep & mood disorders. And it doesn’t only occur among people who are obese - until recently,
that was the widespread supposition.
Interestingly, Marshall et
al noted in their recent study findings that NES also occurs among nonobese persons.2
The Consequences
Overeating resulting from NES can lead to weight gain & a variety of associated health conditions.
It's estimated that between 9% & 15% of individuals seen in weight treatment programs are suffering from NES.3
This percentage
increases to almost 30% for those severely overweight (100-plus pounds) & includes individuals
who have been evaluated for surgical treatment for obesity.4
In addition to weight-related
health issues - type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis & heart disease - daytime sleepiness can be a very real
problem. Excessive sleepiness can affect overall concentration & the ability to perform everyday activities.
Another common problem among
night eaters is depression. Some sufferers complain of long-term struggles w/feeling sad. Studies conducted at the University of Pennsylvania indicate that approximately 45% of NES participants had experienced
a major depressive episode at some point in their lives.5
Stress is yet another issue. Life stress events are frequently associated w/the onset of night eating. Allison et al noted that
up to 75% of sufferers describe how a specific stressful event played a role in either the initiation or continuation of NES.5
Night Eating Patterns
NES can assume a number of different forms or patterns. The authors of the book Overcoming Night
Eating Syndrome: A Step-By-Step Guide to Breaking the Cycle discuss 4 different types of
night eaters:
- the compelled evening & nighttime overeater
- the anxious/agitated night eater
- the cravings night eater
- the all-or-nothing belief about sleep night eater.6
The compelled
evening & nighttime overeater is described as someone who doesn’t get up to eat in the middle of the night
but does consume most of his or her calories in the evening & nighttime.
Often, the individual will
stay up late & continue eating after the evening meal.
In contrast, the anxious/agitated night eater wakes up at night plagued w/anxiety-provoking thoughts that create stress & agitation.
For this type of eater, the
physical agitation directs his or her to food as a means to calm down.
The cravings
night eater experiences overwhelming food cravings. For this individual, eating a certain food is the primary goal, not so much whether or not it will help facilitate
sleep. After having the desired food, he or she will frequently experience remorse, guilt, & even physical distress.
Finally, the 4th type of night eater - described as the all-or-nothing
belief about sleep night eater - is concerned about not getting enough sleep. In this pattern, the person is focused on sleep, not food.
When the person wakes up in
the middle of the night, he or she uses food as a means to help get back to sleep w/the belief that eating will help him or her relax & thus aid in achieving better sleep.
Making the Connection
Regardless of the night eating
pattern, finding the connection between thoughts & resulting behavior is key. In other words, while eating at night may appear to be automatic, it has somehow become
embedded in the nightly behavior routine.
By exploring the
links in the behavior chain, a person is able to see how one response produces the stimulus for the next response. An example
of a chain would be waking up at night, looking at the clock & becoming anxious about not getting enough sleep, getting out of bed, going to the refrigerator, choosing to have something to eat, feeling
calmer & sleepier & going back to bed.
The goal is to become aware of the chain components & begin to break them. Changing behavior can be difficult. Keeping a journal can be an important tool to help discover these connections. At the beginning of this process, the person may feel he or she has limited ability to control food choices.
The first step in behavior
change is raising the level of awareness of the behavior. In other words, a person w/increased awareness may be able to say,
“Isn’t it interesting
that I always choose cookies, breads & cereals rather than salad or croutons when I eat in the middle of the night? I
guess my behavior isn’t as automatic as I thought. I could choose other options.”
Managing the Midnight
Munchies
It’s 1 am & Kathy is sitting at the kitchen table. She’s
hungry & restless as she struggles w/a familiar internal dialogue:
- “I can’t sleep if I’m hungry.”
- “I’ve followed my diet all day &
I need a treat.”
- “I’ll only choose low-calorie, healthy
foods. A little bit won’t hurt.”
Kathy might find
it helpful to explore her reasons for eating - her behavior chain - & then choose the most healthful action.
She might:
- Determine what she is really feeling & thinking & then decide what action would meet that need. i.e., if she isn't truly hungry, what is the reason she wants a snack?
- Is it because a favorite food is in sight? If so,
keeping the food out of the house might be an answer.
- Or is it because she is lonely?
Then making plans
to visit a friend could be part of the solution.
- After assessing her reasons for wanting to eat,
she could think of something else to do for 15 or 20 minutes (like reading, stretching, or writing a note to a
friend). By allowing time between the food craving (thought) & actually eating, she may find that the craving has passed.
- If her food cravings are still strong after waiting
the brief time period, she could decide to have a small portion of the desired food or try a new, lower-calorie substitute.
Buying food in preportioned amounts or preportioning
them once at home helps control overeating. By limiting the amount consumed late at night, she can wake up hungry in the morning & start the day w/a satisfying breakfast.
- Add exercise to the evening schedule. A walk after
dinner, water aerobics, or a Tai Chi class might help alleviate stress & promote more restful sleep as long as they're done early enough in the evening. Vigorous exercise in the late evening
may actually increase sleeplessness.
- Practice deep breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing exercises (breathing deeply with abdominal muscles) can be especially
helpful in reducing anxiety & agitation. Deep, relaxed breathing also helps promote restful sleep.
Anne M. Fletcher,
MS, RD (author of the Thin for Life books), suggests that since NES has probably existed
for some time, it may be unrealistic to expect the individual to break it completely.
She notes that
an evening snack (300 calories or less), if planned as part of the total day’s calories,
can be part of healthful eating. Fletcher also recommends implementing a ritual or “meal-termination
technique” - something that symbolizes the end of the meal.
This might be
having a cup of favorite tea, a brief prayer of thanks, or a short walk after the evening meal. A ritual helps the individual
transition from one behavior (eating) to another behavior (eg,
rest, preparation for bed).
While new ideas are forthcoming
to help manage NES (eg, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), much of the answer rests
in developing increased self-awareness & effective self-management tools & techniques.
One treatment approach is
unlikely to meet the needs of every person experiencing night eating. Successful control of night eating comes thru the exploration of unique individual
needs & stressors & finding multiple solutions for developing healthful eating.
* Fictitious name
— Mary Kaye Sawyer-Morse, PhD, RD, professional speaker and author, is owner
and education director of The Center for Success, a Texas-based company that provides keynotes, in-service training, and seminars
to diverse industries. Her areas of expertise include life-work balance, creating behavior change, women’s health issues,
and understanding nutrition/health research.
Resources
Weight and Eating Disorders
Organizations
Academy for Eating Disorders
www.aedweb.org
The academy is an international organization w/members from the research & clinical community.
They publish the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc. (ANRED)
www.anred.com
ANRED is a not-for-profit organization that has included the definition for NES on its Web site. ANRED
provides information about many aspects of eating & weight disorders.
North American Association for the Study of Obesity
www.naaso.org
This organization publishes the journal Obesity Research. The Web site provides helpful information
about obesity & related problems.
Promoting Restful Sleep
National Center on Sleep Disorders
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/
This site provides information regarding ongoing research into sleep disorders. It also lists resources
for the public.
National Sleep Foundation
www.sleepfoundation.org
This foundation provides information about problems w/sleeping & has an easy-to-use guide to
sleep services nationwide.
Help With Stress
The National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH)
www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html
NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research & making recommendations for the
prevention of work-related illness & injury (including stress-related problems).
"Unhealthy" foods.
Replace these foods by fruits
or vegetables as often as you can. Your body will function better & you'll have more energy.
Wrong food categories
- Animal food;
- White flour;
- Refined Sugar;
- Stimulants;
1. ANIMAL FOOD
Animal foods are: meat, milk, yoghurt, cheese, bouillon, butter, fish, shellfish, eggs
e.g. If you look into it you'll be amazed how much products in the supermarket contain some kind of animal based product.
If you want to
become a strict vegan it isn't easy. The food pattern of the Western civilisation is based on animal products. In fact this
is very strange since we know that many modern diseases are caused by an overconsumption of animal food.
If
you want to lose weight quickly it's a must to stay away from animal products. There are two reasons why you have to abstain
from animal food if you want to slim down fast:
- The energy animal foods contain consists of proteins. Proteins
take a longer time to digest & are burnt in a different, more cumbersome way than fruits & vegetables. Burning proteins
is a body polluting process so it will not contribute to a healthy functioning of the cells. For more about this subject see
the burning process. (below)
- Animal
products contain a lot of fattening cholesterol whereas fruits & vegetables don't contain any cholesterol.
Note: I'm not suggesting
anyone become a vegan or vegetarian here, I'm simply informing you of the value of the foods mentioned.
The burning process
& sugar in fruit
Everything you eat or drink has to be digested to extract
the energy from it. Your body can extract energy from food in two ways:
Burning w/oxygen, for sugar & fat (fruit);
Burning w/out oxygen, for proteins (meat/dairy). -
Burning with oxygen,for sugar & fat (fruit)
The energy fruit contains is in the form of sugars (glucose).
Your body can easily turn this glucose into energy by using oxygen. When the body burns the sugars w/the help of oxygen there
are waste products produced.
The waste products of
this chemical reaction are water & carbon-dioxide. Your body can use the water & disposes of the carbon-dioxide thru
the lungs by breathing. It's a very quick, clean & easy way to extract energy.
Your body does an excellent
job: it extracts 50% of the energy. A combustion engine about 10 to 20%, the rest is lost thru heat.
Fruit juice takes only
about 15 minutes & raw fruit about 30 minutes to digest!
- Burning
w/out oxygen, for proteins (meat/dairy)
Proteins are burnt
in a different way. The energy that for instance meat, milk & dairy contain consists of proteins & animal fat. The
largest part consists of proteins & the conversion of proteins into energy is more difficult & costs more energy than
the conversion of sugar & fat into energy.
When the body burns
proteins other waste products are produced than w/the burning of sugars. The waste product of the burning-process w/out oxygen
is ammonia which is connected w/carbon-dioxide & forms the less toxic ureum which is excreted by the kidneys. It's a more
cumbersome way to extract energy.
A steak can take up to 8 or 10 hours to digest, especially when eaten in combination w/potatoes.
In comparison to fruit (30 minutes) a lot of energy is lost to the digestion of proteins
& this means that you can't use that energy for other things. Thinking or the disposing of toxins for example.
2.
WHITE FLOUR
White flour forms a sticky substance in the intestines & cardiovascular vessels, causes constipation &
deregulates the digestive system. For a proper burning process you have to stay away as much as you can from white flour.
Products that contain white flour are: white bread, pizza, buns, pancakes, crepes e.g.
3.
REFINED WHITE SUGAR
Refined
white sugar is a stimulant & therefore mentioned at 4 but we treat white sugar here because allmost every product you
buy at the store contains some kind of refined white sugar. Check those labels! If you consume
refined white sugar your body will start craving for more.
This
effect isn't known with the consumption of natural sugars. Try to avoid products that contain this worldly accepted stimulant.
Examples: sodas, icecream, candy, ketchup, other sauces & literally thousands of other products in the supermarket. Inform
yourself & check the labels.
4. STIMULANTS
Characteristic
for stimulants is that they can quickly change a mental or bodily state but that the change
is never made permanently & is only a temporary solution. We use stimulants to make us feel
good. If you try to control a symptom w/stimulants, the cause of that symptom will remain. So try to stay away from
stimulants as much as you can. The most well known stimulants are:
- Refined white sugar;
- Coffee,
- Alcohol;
- Cigarettes;
- Spices;
- Red meat;
- Diet pills;
- Drugs.
The “unhealthiest”
foods tend to be those that least resemble their original natural ingredients & have the most added refined & artificial
additives.
Prime examples are the “white
foods” - white sugar, white flour & white fat & the gamut of foods in which they're the principal ingredients.
- “White sugar”
includes refined sugar cane or sugar beets having virtually all B vitamins, minerals, antioxidants & other essential nutrients
removed. Corn syrup is also a “white sugar,” made from processed cornstarch & essentially devoid of other
nutrients.
- “White flour,”
analogously, is whole wheat flour minus its nutrient-packed wheat germ & fibrous bran. Nutritionally speaking, white flour
a ghost-like shadow of its original whole grain.
- “White fat” can
include rendered animal lard, vegetable oils “hydrogenated” to make them hard at room temperature & refined
tropical fats such as cottonseed oil. Hydrogenation is a chemical process that transforms natural fats into more saturated
“trans”-fatty acids that don't occur naturally & are strongly associated w/cardiovascular disease.
Foods having “whites”
as their primary ingredients are frighteningly ubiquitous! Examples include:
- soft drinks
- most breads
- crackers
- pasta
- pastries & pastry fillings
- cakes
- frostings
- margarine
- bread spreads
- jellies
- sweets
- candies
- frozen dinners
- hamburger & hotdog buns
- snacks
- doughnuts
- pizzas
- pies
- candy bars
- cookies
- all of which are common snacks & convenience foods.
Indeed, many of these combine
all 3 whites together - white sugar, flour & fat! Furthermore, these foods frequently contain artificial colors, artificial
flavors, preservatives, texturizing & processing agents & other additives that further detract
from their nutritional stature & your health.
excerpt:
Sleep is a "Mind-Body" Experience
There's also no doubt that
from a physiological standpoint, sleep is a complicated event & one that's related to many factors that cut across the
"mind-body" spectrum.
When we can't get to sleep
because we're worried & feeling anxious, or depressed & feeling down, or confused & can't figure something out, we obviously aren't going to get to the root of our sleep trouble until we're able to work
thru the parts of our lives that we're feeling anxious or depressed about.
At the same time, however,
our nutritional status & the food we eat always influence our sleep. While we can't afford to overlook the psychological
aspects, we also need to pay attention to the way we eat.
According to the Encyclopedia
of Natural Medicine (Pizzorno & Murray, 1998), more than half of the carbohydrates consumed
by people in the United States are added to foods as sweetening agents.
Simply put, most of the
carbohydrates we eat in this country are in the form of highly processed sugars. The typical
American diet consists largely of processed foods that are loaded w/refined sweeteners, w/names like:
- sucrose (table sugar)
- maltodextrin
- fructose
- lactose
- high fructose corn syrup
These sweeteners have the
same amount of calories per gram as other, more healthful sources of carbohydrates such as whole grains. But, unlike whole
grains, refined sweeteners are called “empty calories” because they don't contain
any of the essential nutrients, such as fiber, vitamins & minerals.
Additionally, because these
sweeteners are intensely sweet, many of us have trained our palate’s to like only those foods
that are very sweet. Of course, we can’t totally divorce ourselves from our natural sweet tooth. However, eating too
much refined sugar is associated w/a variety of health conditions including:
- diabetes
- hypoglycemia
- obesity
- poor immune function
- mood fluctuations
- dental cares
- premenstrual syndrome
So, take a step towards better
health & try these suggestions for eliminating refined sugar from your diet.
- Eat more fruit:
Fruit is rich in naturally occurring sugar that can satisfy your craving for sweets. More importantly, most fruits contain
fiber & several vitamins & minerals.
- Cut out the soda:
If you're a soda drinker, you're getting too much sugar in your diet, plus a lot of other things that aren’t good for
you!
Also, don’t think you're doing yourself a
favor by drinking fruit beverages. The number one ingredient in many of the fruit drinks sold in supermarkets is high fructose
corn syrup. If you want to enjoy a fruit juice, choose a product that contains 100% fruit juice.
- Leave out the spoonful of
sugar: Many of us add table sugar to hot & cold beverages. To break this habit, start by cutting the amount
of sugar you add to your beverages in half, then slowly eliminate the sugar completely.
- Bake & cook with alternatives:
If you like to make cookies & other baked goods, you probably use a lot of white & brown sugar.
Try substituting a more natural sugar, such as dried
organic cane juice, in your favorite cookie & dessert recipes. In addition, pureed fruits (such
as dates, bananas & apples) or 100% fruit juice concentrate can be used in place of white & brown sugar in
many recipes.
To use a wet sweetener in place of dry sugar, use
an equivalent amount of sweetener & reduce the liquid content in the recipe by ¼ cup. If the recipe doesn't call for liquid,
add 3-5 tablespoons of flour for each ¾ cup of liquid sweetener used. (adapted from Feeding the
Whole Family by Cynthia Lair)
- Use the World’s Healthiest
Foods as the foundation of your diet: The foods featured on this website are whole, unprocessed & nutrient-dense
foods. By incorporating more of these foods into your diet, you'll automatically reduce your consumption of refined sweeteners.
Visit this website for excellent advice & information concerning changing your diet to benefit
your overall health. it's an awesome, thumbs up website!!!! click the underlined link!!!
Food And Your MoodNEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2004
(CBS) The foods we eat
affect our waistlines - for better or for worse.
But did you know you know that eating that piece of cake or pie can
make you tired or depressed and that eating carrots and celery sticks can fill you with energy and vitality.
Samantha
Heller, a dietician and clinical nutritionist at New York University Medical Center, visits The Early Show to
offer the skinny on how food can affect your mood.
Bodies are like chemistry sets, she says. Everything you put in
your body has a chemical effect, which is why food can affect your mood. It gets broken down into elements that can raise
your blood sugar or drop it rapidly.
Heller says, “That banana you’re eating, we forget about it but the
chemicals in the banana affect us, good or ill. There are chemicals like caffeine that affect the neurotransmitters and affect
whether we feel good or bad or energetic or tired.”
A big dose of caffeine might make you feel better in the
short term - but that's not a healthy way to energize yourself. She explains you can become jittery and dependent on that
caffeine.
And beware of white grains and sugars as well. Heller says, “The problem with white grains like white
bread, white pasta, white highly sugared cereals is right after you eat it, it spikes up your blood sugar. Then your body
compensates by pulling your blood sugar down. A lot of us have to have that bagel or pastry and midmorning we get tanked and
tired and fatigued and are running off to get more coffee. That becomes a cycle. What we want to do is fill our body with
healthy fuel to keep that blood sugar, keep that energy level as consistent throughout the day as possible.”
As
you eat healthier and your body does not have to deal with fighting the bad things eat, Heller notes, it is able to run more
efficiently and you feel happier. If it doesn't have to keep controlling your blood sugar by producing insulin, it is not
working as hard.
Here is a list of foods to add to your diet and foods to avoid:
Mood Supporters
Vegetables
Fruit
Swimming fish
Nuts
Beans
Non-fat dairy products
Egg whites
Whole grains
Bad Foods
Caffeine
Alcohol
Sugar
White flour
As for comfort food, Heller says if you
need it, maybe you’re feeling stress. The issue with comfort food is it tastes good immediately and distracts you from
your mood. On occasion, it's OK to do that, but you can't do that every day.
But you can eat healthy comfort food.
For macaroni and cheese, you can make it with whole grain pasta and non-fat cheese. It will make you feel good - and it won't
have the effect of raising your blood sugar the way regular macaroni and cheese would.
As for chocolate, bitter chocolate
has some healthy components. But there's really not enough of that in chocolate to make a real difference. You need to get
healthy fats in your diet. And never lose weight too fast, Heller says. ©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Stress and the All-Night Diner
Curb overeating and help your heart
By Sari N. Harrar , Sarí N. Harrar, former health news editor at Prevention,
is a freelance writer specializing in health, science, and medicine.
Researchers recently unmasked two of stress's hidden harmful effects: It keeps heart-damaging fats circulating longer in your bloodstream, and it may be a key force
driving those overeating at night.
Blood tests of 70 volunteers (ages 40 to 61) showed that triglycerides
(blood fats associated with heart attacks and stroke) stayed in the bloodstream about 15 percent longer when participants
were stressed, says researcher Catherine M. Stoney, PhD, professor of psychology at Ohio State University. "This happened
to everyone we tested."
In a small Norwegian study, researchers found that women with
"night eating syndrome" had abnormal hormonal responses to stress (Amer. Jour. of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism,
Feb 2002).
Here's how to outwit these damaging stress effects.
If you snack on high-fat
foods, or you are overeating when tension is high, ease stressful feelings first. "Deep breathing, physical
exercise, stroking your dog or cat, taking a long bath-whatever works for
you is a good strategy," Dr. Stoney says. "Most of the mild stressors in our lives are here to stay. Our own negative thoughts
often increase our sense of stress."
If you chow down all night, an eating disorders program may help.
You may have night eating syndrome if you consume at least half of your daily food after dinner, you can't fall or stay asleep,
you eat when you wake up at night, you choose starches or sweets, and you don't want breakfast in the morning. Grethe S. Birketvedt,
MD, PhD, a researcher at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, also suggests stress reduction and pleasant social activities in the evening. Some
of her patients improve when they eat foods such as turkey and peanut butter that are high in tryptophan, an amino acid that helps you feel
sleepy.
If you snack on high-fat foods, or you
are overeating when tension is high, ease stressful feelings first. "Deep breathing, physical exercise,
stroking your dog or cat, taking a long bath-whatever works for you is a good strategy," Dr. Stoney says. "Most of the mild
stressors in our lives are here to stay. Our own negative thoughts often increase our sense of stress."
If you chow down all night, an eating disorders
program may help. You may have night eating syndrome
if you consume at least half of your daily food after dinner, you can't fall or stay asleep, you eat when you wake up at night,
you choose starches or sweets, and you don't want breakfast in the morning. Grethe S. Birketvedt, MD, PhD, a researcher at
the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, also suggests stress reduction and pleasant social activities in the evening. Some of her
patients improve when they eat foods such as turkey and peanut
butter that are high in tryptophan, an amino acid that helps
you feel sleepy.
Last Updated: 10/14/2004 Copyright (c) Rodale, Inc. 2002
previous news....
Posted 11/14/2004 10:44 PM
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
When Carlo Porreca's 3 children were babies,
he frequently got up at night to check on them. Years later, when they were teenagers, he was still getting up at night, but
by then he was going down to the kitchen & eating.
At first he nibbled on a few crackers, but then he began gobbling cookies
& milk & sandwiches.
For more than 20 years, he ate 3 or 4 times between midnight &
4 a.m. "It took on a life of its own & my body started waking me up for the food," says Porreca, now 62, a computer manager
in Philadelphia. One night he even cooked himself a steak.
He put on 50 pounds before he was diagnosed w/a disorder called night eating syndrome.
Like Porreca, people who have this condition consume 1/3 or more of
their daily calories after dinner, either before going to bed or during the night, says psychologist Kelly Allison of the
Weight & Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
They aren't sleepwalking; they're aware of what they're doing. "But there's a feeling of compulsion & anxiety associated with it."
She & her colleagues at the university are presenting new research
on the syndrome today in Las Vegas at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, a conference
being held in partnership w/the American Diabetes Association.
They've found that the antidepressant Zoloft is effective in controlling night eating & Allison also has explored treating it w/behavior modification strategies.
Allison has written a new book, Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome,
with Sara Thier & Albert Stunkard. Stunkard is the University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist who discovered the syndrome
in the early 1950's.
Estimates vary on how many people have this problem, but research suggests
that it affects 6% to 8% of people treated in obesity clinics & about 1.5% of the general population, Stunkard says.
People of normal weight sometimes are affected, too & it may be
a pathway to the development of obesity, he says.
Penn researchers have studied more than 100 patients w/the condition
& also have gathered data from more than 2,000 others who've visited their Web site at www.uphs.upenn.edu/weight.
Night eaters are different from those
who get up occasionally to snack or who consume a lot of food several times a week before bed.
Stunkard says night eaters often
eat sparingly early in the day. "The disorder represents a shift of the biological rhythm of eating to later in the day,"
he says.
People w/the syndrome may, for example, eat 700 to 800 of their 2,200
daily calories at night. They may eat peanut butter right out of a jar or chocolate cake or leftovers from dinner, Allison
says.
The emotional & physical impact is circular. "The eating helps
soothe people & makes them feel better for a short time, but it also increases their
weight, which makes them feel worse," she says.
Some are frustrated. "They feel like even though they're eating well during the day, they can't lose weight because they feel so compelled to
eat during the night."
Allison worked w/one woman who got up & ate more often at night
after her third child was born w/a serious brain abnormality. The increasing weight left her feeling depressed & hopeless.
Another patient woke nearly every hour on the hour & tried to do
other activities but usually ended up giving in & eating. "Then I sleep like a baby," he reported.
Emotions often feed syndrome
The syndrome often seems to be triggered by a stressful or emotional event. About 75% of people can link its start to a specific event like a divorce, pregnancy or loss of job,
Allison says. "About 50% of our sample have had a major depressive episode in their lifetime."
Porreca didn't have a history of depression. He believes he had a sleeping disorder that became an eating disorder. "Between the two of them, it took hold & I couldn't
control it," he says. When Penn doctors studied his eating patterns, they found he ate 34% of his calories between midnight
& 4 a.m.
Key behaviors observed in people w/night
eating syndrome:
-
Overeating in the evening. They may feel hungry & eat to relax
before bedtime.
-
Difficulty falling asleep. They may toss & turn for half an hour
or longer. They may need to eat something just before going to bed.
-
Waking at night & eating at least 3 times a week. After falling
asleep, they often wake up at least once & need to eat before being able to fall asleep again.
-
Not feeling hungry in the morning. They don't have any appetite &
will often go w/out food until lunchtime or later in the afternoon. They may wake up "feeling kind of gross, nauseated, like
they're really full," Allison says.
For some people, the syndrome becomes part of their daily lives for
years, she says. "We see people who are 60 & have had it since they were 30," she says.
David Neubauer, an associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center
at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, says doctors at sleep clinics treat a range of sleep-related eating issues.
In the 1980's, researchers wrote about a problem called nocturnal sleep-related
eating disorder. People suffering w/this go to sleep, then get up & may not be fully aware that they're eating. Some know
what they've done only after being observed or by noticing missing food, crumbs & empty wrappers, he says.
They're different from people who actually wake up & get a snack,
but they may share some of the characteristics of people w/the night eating syndrome, he says.
For some w/the syndrome the delayed pattern in eating disrupts sleep,
Allison says. "This can impact people's ability to concentrate & feel rested the next day."
Treatment: No 'magic bullet'
Experts are researching treatments, including recommending basic behavioral
changes in eating & exercise habits.
In 3 different studies, University of Pennsylvania researchers are
prescribing the antidepressant Zoloft to patients w/the disorder. "We do get good results, but of course it's not a magic
bullet for everyone," Allison says.
"Other drug treatments may work; they just haven't been studied yet."
After enrolling in a university study, Porreca started taking Zoloft.
"Within two weeks, I was sleeping thru the night." He also lost 25 pounds & his cholesterol dropped. Then he started walking & doing other physical activities, eating healthier & quit smoking.
"I can't believe how well I feel. I didn't realize how wonderful it is to sleep thru the night. I feel peppier. I feel tremendous."
personal message...
i believe that like mental disorders, medication relieves the symptoms so a person can
regain control over their life. perhaps that person has never had significant control over their life though, and the development
of healthy habits must be sought out before the medication can be stopped. i also believe from my own personal experience
that the problems that caused the negative coping methods to begin with still be there even after the night eating syndrome
has been alleviated. Once the person stops taking the medication, relaxes the newer coping methods, relaxes their new healthy
lifestyle habits, their mind begins to wander once again to the unresolved feelings and emotions that previously brought on
the unhealthy coping methods. this could turn into more unhealthy, negative coping mechanisms and loss of control again. i've
felt, personally, that i'm always on the verge of night eating once i experience extreme stress, negative life experiences,
traumatic memories and unresolved feelings & emotions surfacing.
kathleen
Body's Food Cycle Amiss in Night
Eaters
Antidepressant Zoloft Improves Symptoms of Night Eating Syndrome
WebMd
Oct.
16, 2003 -- Night eating syndrome is commonly seen in overweight people. And new research shows that the cause may be an abnormal
food cycle in the body.
Researchers say that people with night eating syndrome
appear to have disturbed circadian rhythms of food intake. Circadian rhythms are the cycle that your body operates on -- your
body's 24-hour clock.
Night eating syndrome is seen in about 6% of people
who seek treatment for obesity, according to Albert Stunkard, MD, emeritus director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Program
at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Night eating syndrome may also run in families.
First described by Stunkard in 1955, night eating
syndrome may be stress related and is often accompanied by depression. Individuals with the disorder eat one-third
or more of their daily calories after their evening meal, sometimes rising from their beds once or twice a night
to snack.
Speaking at the North American Association for the
Study of Obesity (NAASO) annual meeting this week, Stunkard presented some of his latest findings.
In his new study, Stunkard and colleagues monitored
sleep/wake activity over one week in 55 obese adults with night eating syndrome. Participants were compared with
60 people of similar weight who did not have night eating syndrome.
The researchers found that night eating syndrome
involves a disturbed circadian rhythm of food intake while circadian sleep rhythm remains normal.
"The circadian rhythm of food intake is extremely
disturbed and the timing is delayed by 4 or 5 hours compared to that in normal people," Stunkard tells WebMD.
According to the researchers, night eating syndrome
"is the first clinical disorder to manifest different circadian rhythms of two biological systems."
Stunkard also
found that 36% of those with night eating syndrome had at least one first-degree relative with the disorder, compared with
22% of those who were not night eaters.
The researchers also report that night eating syndrome
may respond to treatment with the antidepressant Zoloft.
In a separate study of 17 night eaters, 29% of patients
taking Zoloft experienced total remission of the disorder, and 18% improved significantly. This study was funded by the National
Institutes of Health and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturers of Zoloft.
On average, nighttime awakenings fell by 60%, nighttime
eating by 70%, and number of calories eaten after supper by 40%, they report.
A paper describing these research findings will be
published in the January issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Stunkard says that their ongoing research is looking
at the effect of certain hormones, such as insulin and leptin, on circadian rhythms.
With reporting by Emma Hitt, PhD.
Eating While Others SleepNEW YORK, May 29, 2004CBS) After the dinner dishes have been washed &
the household is sleeping, some people are just beginning to feel hungry & overeat, sometimes consuming almost an entire
day's worth of calories after dark.
The new book, "Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome,"
sheds light on this eating disorder, which contributes to obesity, heart disease & diabetes.
One of the authors is Kelly Allison, a clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
She tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is getting more attention w/the obesity
epidemic.
“We think it affects about 1.5% of the population, but it's more
prevalent the more overweight you are,” she says.
Interestingly enough, many
men suffer from this syndrome. She notes, “The traditional disorders, anorexia & bulimia, are tied into body image issues & pressures to be thin, whereas this is more a disorder of
overeating.”
Here are some highlights from Allison’s research:
- Genetics: 17% of all immediate family
members of those w/ NES also showed symptoms of the disorder.
- Depression: 45% of NES patients in the study had a major bout of depression sometime in their lives & many said they tend to feel sad or anxious as the day wears on, typically after 8 p.m.
- Stress: 75% of patients reported
feeling stressed out. Often it's because of a job loss, divorce, a birth or perhaps
they've stopped using alcohol or drugs & replaced them w/food.
Allison says that few doctors
& mental health practitioners have been trained to recognize NES. As a result, they may misdiagnose patients, minimize
their symptoms, or prescribe treatments that don't work.
She recommends the following
strategies that may help:
Keep A Food Journal - In weight loss, a daily food journal
is one of the best predictors of how well a person will stick w/the program. So Allison says her team based their philosophy
on that technique to make people stop & think about their food choices. Even at 3 a.m., they can pick something that's
not high in sugar or calories.
Structure Mealtimes & Snacks & switch to
low-calorie or low-fat foods. Maintain a set time & amount for your evening snack & gradually decrease the portion
size.
Behavioral Techniques - Once you become aware of your choices, you can start
to question how much you need to be eating & why you're eating it. Ask, "What's the worst thing that would happen if I
didn't eat now? Would it be so horrible to miss several hours of sleep & be tired at work tomorrow?" You can also try
muscle relaxation & deep breathing to relieve stress.
Therapy - A therapist or psychologist
can get to the bottom of what's behind the behavior. If they're not familiar w/this particular disorder, Allison advises taking
the book with you. Thru their Web site, Allison & her team will work with your physician to recommend an approach that
works.
Medication - A couple of studies show that sertraline (Zoloft), which controls
seratonin levels & was originally approved for treating depression, was successful in 60-70% of the cases of NES. This
is just one of the options that needs further study before it can be broadly recommended.
Allison
notes, “If you feel like this is something that is just starting, you might want to try some of the self-help behavioral
techniques. If it is causing you distress, go see a doctor, or a psychologist, or psychiatrist.”
Read an excerpt from Chapter One:
Are You a Night Eater? of Overcoming Night
Eating Syndrome
When did you first become aware of night eating syndrome
(NES)? If you have never heard it called this name before, that’s okay. That’s also true for most of the public
& the majority of health care providers. It’s been only recently that discussions of NES have appeared in a few
magazines & on some Web sites. Although you & others w/this condition may not have been able to label your eating
habits as NES, the problems you face are very real & very challenging. For example, consider Beth’s situation:
Beth is a forty-five-year-old mother
of three who is worried about her eating habits. She says that during the day she doesn’t eat much at all. But in the
evening & late at night she finds herself eating most of her daily intake of food.
She attributes this unusual
eating pattern not only to caring for & worrying about her kids, but also to the fact that she is working two part-time
jobs. She has a hard time falling asleep & wakes up in the middle of the night needing to eat in order to fall asleep
again.
Beth believes that this pattern of night eating
began ten years ago when her last child, Emily, was born w/Down’s syndrome. Since that time, Beth has experienced great
stress in caring for her daughter. After Emily’s birth, Beth was unable to lose the
weight she had gained during pregnancy & she continued putting on more weight.
She is approximately 55 pounds overweight & feels depressed about her inability to lose those extra pounds. The mental & physical stress of caring for her developmentally disabled daughter, along with her inability to control her night
eating & her increasing weight, have left her feeling depressed & hopeless. The Primary Signs of Night Eating Syndrome Beth’s situation is characteristic
of someone with NES. There are 5 primary signs that characterize NES. These signs are discussed below:
- Not feeling hungry in the morning:
If you have NES, most likely you will not have any appetite at all in the morning & will often go w/out food or even lack
the desire to eat until lunchtime or the afternoon.
- Overeating in the evening:
In contrast to a lack of appetite in the morning, if you have NES, you'll feel very hungry in the evening & will overeat.
Overeating w/NES is different from binge eating in most cases. This difference is discussed in chapter 2.
- Difficulty falling asleep:
If you have NES, you may find it hard to fall asleep; you may toss & turn for half an hour or longer. You may need to
eat something just before you go to bed to fall asleep faster.
Waking at night & eating:
If you have NES, after falling asleep you may wake at least once during the night & you’ll find it necessary to
eat before you’re able to fall asleep again.
Copied with permission from New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2004 by Kelly C. Allison, Ph.D., Albert
J. Stunkard, MD, and Sara L. Their New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
PERSONAL HEALTH
Peril of the Night, When Calories Come Calling
By
JANE E. BRODY
Published: April 20, 2004
In 1963, master's degree in hand, I found myself in a new job 1,200
miles from my family home & old friends, 2,000 miles from my boyfriend & working under editors who seemed to enjoy
making me miserable.
I soon found myself sinking
into a disturbed eating pattern that I was unable to break. Unaware of hunger, I ate little or nothing all day, then ate steadily
all evening, often into the early morning, sometimes falling asleep w/food in my mouth.
As you might guess, despite
regular exercise, I gained weight, until nearly 40 extra pounds padded my small frame. The weight gain made me increasingly
anxious & angry w/myself, making it harder to control the problem. On one bad night of nonstop nibbling, I felt so desperate I even considered suicide.
After a few sessions w/a psychologist
who seemed particularly tuned in to the trauma of eating disorders & a move back to my hometown to a new job at The New
York Times, I made a decision: if I was going to be fat, at least let me be healthy.
Hungry or not, I made myself
eat three wholesome meals a day, with prearranged snacks if needed & one small "no-no" to keep me from feeling deprived. Miracle of miracles, I lost 10 pounds in a month & by continuing with this "normal" eating pattern, another 25 over
the next 23 months.
Now comes a book, "Overcoming
Night Eating Syndrome," that describes in detail the various versions of the disorder that besieged me 40 years ago &
that provides step-by-step guidelines to help people break this vicious cycle of disordered eating, self-disgust & depression.
It is written by Dr. Kelly
C. Allison, and Dr. Albert J. Stunkard, with Sara L. Thier (New Harbinger Publications, $14.95).
Dr. Allison, an instructor
at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, does research on the physiological and psychological characteristics
of this eating disorder. Dr. Stunkard, a professor of psychiatry and an expert on the causes of obesity, founded the university's
Weight and Eating Disorders Program.
Dr. Stunkard is also the lead
author of a paper, "The Night Eating Syndrome," published in The American Journal of Medicine in 1955, describing this strange
"pattern of food intake among certain obese patients."
But while this not-exactly-rare
problem was noted in the medical literature nearly half a century ago, it has been all but ignored by both eating-disorder
specialists and weight control programs.
Like the eating pattern itself,
the problem seems to have hidden under the cloak of darkness. Yet the factors that precipitate and perpetuate it may be a
major reason for the failure of so many obese patients to lose weight and keep it off.
The Syndrome
As outlined in the new book,
five symptoms characterize night eating syndrome: not feeling hungry in the morning; overeating in the evening; difficulty
falling asleep; waking at night & eating & feeling depressed.
The syndrome tends to run
in families, suggesting that genetic as well as physiological & psychological factors are involved.
A 29-year-old woman described
in the 1955 paper typifies the problem. One of 10 children, she married at 18 to escape a home life of hardship & deprivation.
Her new husband, however, was an alcoholic & over the next eight years, in the throes of emotional turmoil, she gained
100 pounds.
Her eating pattern was typical
of night eating syndrome. She awoke each morning w/no appetite & ate no breakfast &
little lunch. Early in the evening, she ate a large supper & plagued w/anxiety both when alone & after quarreling w/her husband, she continued nibbling at mostly sweet foods, often until early morning.
She experienced temporary
relief while hospitalized with a medical problem; she enjoyed talking to her roommate, stuck easily to an 800-calorie diet
of breakfast, lunch & supper & lost 28 pounds in a month. But as soon as she returned home, the disordered eating
& insomnia recurred, along w/a weight gain of two pounds a week.
Peril of the Night, When Calories
Come Calling Published: April 20, 2004(Page 2 of 2)
As Dr. Allison and Dr. Stunkard
describe it, night eating syndrome is neither binge eating nor an outgrowth of anorexia nervosa or stringent dieting efforts. Nor is it a bad habit or a result of poor self-control.
It's a disorder of eating,
sleep & mood that seems most often to be precipitated by a stressful event or situation, like divorce, the death of a loved one or the loss of a job.
"Life stress is associated with the onset of night eating in 75% of sufferers & it plays a role in the continuation" of the syndrome,
the authors write.
The syndrome afflicts 9 to
15% of people seeking treatment in obesity clinics & about half of those patients were of normal weight before they started
night eating.
In fact, some of those w/the
syndrome remain at healthy weights by exercising a lot & restricting their daytime eating, although their diets may suffer
from serious nutrient imbalances. Typical night eaters consume a third or more of their daily calories after dinner, compared
with the 10% consumed by normal eaters.
A common though not invariable
characteristic of night eating syndrome is repeated awakenings during the night, with the patient almost compulsively consuming
food or drink each time in order to fall back to sleep. As one patient told her therapist, "When I wake up at night, I feel
a compulsive urge to eat & I feel I won't be able to fall back asleep if I don't eat."
Another reported: "The pattern
is always the same. I get up about an hour to an hour & a half after falling asleep & then I eat. The only way I can
control it is to have my husband literally lock me in the bedroom at night & hide the key."
Many sufferers are plagued
by anxious or disturbing thoughts each time they wake up during the night. They eat to calm themselves so they can fall back to sleep. Eating becomes a conditioned
response to waking, working better than any sleeping pill, the Pennsylvania specialists explained.
Gaining Control
The authors suggest that gaining control of this disordered
eating pattern should start with keeping a diary and recording everything you eat, including amounts and calories; how hungry
you were at the time; and the thoughts and feelings you experienced before and after eating.
They also suggest not trying to diet while trying to get night
eating under control.
The next step involves creating a more normal meal plan of breakfast,
lunch and supper and, hungry or not, sticking to it. Eat more calories early in the day and try to eat fewer at night. Plan
snacks and perhaps measure them ahead of time, chewing each bite and paying attention to the taste as you eat. If you still
feel hungry, wait at least 10 minutes before eating more to give your body time to register fullness.
To help with disrupted sleep, go to bed at the same time each
night, and if you wake up one or more times during the night, try to eat or drink as little as possible to help you fall back
to sleep.
Depression is common among night eaters, and the Pennsylvania
researchers have found that many are helped by one of the new serotonin-enhancing antidepressants.
Relaxation exercises also help, the researchers report, as do
practicing imagery and making behavioral changes, like finding interesting things to do in the evening and allowing yourself
a small amount of "forbidden" foods.
Potential Treatment for Night Eating Syndrome Night eating syndrome (NES) appears to be related to
disturbed circadian rhythms of food intake., new research suggests.
The disorder may also run in families & appears to respond
to sertraline treatment. According to Albert Stunkard, MD, emeritus director of the Weight & Eating Disorders Program
at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, NES is prevalent in about 6% of people who seek treatment
for obesity.
First described by Dr. Stunkard in 1955 in the American Journal
of Medicine, NES may be stress related & is often accompanied
by depression. Individuals w/the disorder consume 1/3 or more of their daily calories after their evening meal, sometimes
rising from their beds once or twice a night to snack.
A 15-item questionnaire is used to diagnose the disorder.
Speaking at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) annual meeting this week, Dr. Stunkard presented
some of his group's latest findings. In their study, the researchers monitored sleep/wake activity over one week in 40 adults
with NES & a mean body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher.
Subjects were compared w/ 45 controls matched for BMI. The
researchers also studied 15 individuals with NES & 15 overweight control subjects who spent 3 days & 2 nights in a
sleep laboratory. The study resulted in 3 new findings.
The first was that NES involves a disturbed circadian rhythm
of food intake while circadian sleep rhythm remains normal. "The circadian rhythm of food intake is extremely disturbed &
the timing is delayed by 4 or 5 hours compared to that of in normal people," Dr. Stunkard told Medscape in a phone interview.
According to the researchers, NES "is the first clinical disorder
to manifest different circadian rhythms of two biological systems." Another finding was that 36% of the NES subjects had at
least one first-degree relative w/ the disorder compared w/ 22% of the control subjects (P = .01).
The researchers also report that NES may be responsive to
treatment w/ the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor sertraline. In an open-label trial of 17 subjects with NES, 29% of
subjects taking sertraline experienced total remission of the disorder & another 18% improved significantly.
"On average, nighttime awakenings fell by 60%, nighttime ingestions
by 70% & number of kilocalories consumed after supper by 40%," they report.
An article describing these research findings will be published
in the January issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Dr. Stunkard notes that their ongoing research involves
studies of the circadian patterns of 8 different hormones, including glucose, insulin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, cortisol,
leptin & grehlin.
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health
& Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of sertraline. NAASO 2003 Annual Meeting: Abstract 94-OR. Presented Oct. 13,
2003.
night eating has been a busy place...
i've been e-mailing dozens of people weekly who are visiting this website &
i must say - i wish i could tell you more!
i do reply & i do care! please! write me and let me know how you are doing
from time to time... it's frustrating! i know it more than anyone!
let me hear from you all & if you find some great new factor, discovery in
night eating treatment or just any inspiring news, let me know!
all my love to you all - kathleen
14. HYPERPHAGIA
Hyperphagia is defined as excessive ingestion of food beyond
that needed for basic energy requirements.
Ingestion may occupy unusual amounts of time. Eating may be obligatory
& disrupt normal activity. In contrast, bulimia usually occurs surreptitiously in defined episodes & is terminated
by abdominal pain, guilt or sleepiness.
Hyperphagic conditions may occur in association w/ central nervous
system (CNS) disorders including gangliocytoma of the 3rd ventricle [99], hypothalmic astrocytoma [100], Kleine-Levin Syndrome
[101, 102, 103], Froehlichs Syndrome [104], Parkinsons Disease [105], genetic disorders including Praeder-Willi Syndrome (deletion
of the long arm of chromosome 15) [105, 106, 107, 108], major psychiatric disorders including anxiety, major depressive disorder [44], depressive phase of bipolar disorder [109], seasonal affective disorder [110, 111, 112] & schizophrenia [113, 114], psychotropic medication, including
delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol [109], antidepressants & neuroleptics [115, 116] & sleep disorders including sleep apnea
[117]. Recent evidence evaluating episodic hormone secretion during sleep in Kleine-Levin Syndrome reveals an abnormality
in the hypothalmic regulation of pituitary hormones [114].
Hyperphagia Associated w/ Sleep Disorders
Sasson [117] has noted that in patients w/ sleep apnea who're somnolent during the day, there's obligatory eating to induce alertness, thus
reducing daytime drowsiness.
This hyperphagia has produced markedly increased body weights
in such patients. Binge eating behavior & morning anorexia have been described by Stunkard [118] in the context of a "night
eating" syndrome, suggesting a component of sleep disturbance. In the Kleine-Levin Syndrome [101] hyperphagia is associated
w/ hypersomia.
Recent evidence evaluating episode hormone secretion dorms sleep
in Kleine-Levin Syndrome reveals an abnormality in the hypothalamic regulation of pituitary hormones [119].
Hyperphagia Associated w/Psychiatric Disorder
Hyperphagia may occur in psychiatric disorders such as depression,
anxiety [44] & schizophrenia [113]. A subgroup of patients w/anxiety overeat & gain weight [44] as do some patients
w/ unipolar depression [44] & the depressive phase of a bipolar disorder [119].
Rosenthal [110, 112] reported patients w/ seasonal affective
disorder who appeared to have an atypical depression w/ hypersomnia, compulsive hyperphagia, carbohydrate craving & weight
gain, a syndrome which recurred beginning in the fall of the year & lasting through the winter months, w/resolution during
the increasing daylight hours in spring & summer.
Lyketsos et al. [113] noted that schizophrenic women were found
to give too much time & thought to food & to be preoccupied w/ food or they were perceived by nursing staffs as becoming
anxious & greedy at mealtimes.
In addition, it was noted that 60% of schizophrenic women were
overweight, in contrast to 33% of schizophrenic men. The hyperphagic effects of phenothiazines appear to have only a minor
role in increasing appetite.
Arieti [114] noted unusual eating patterns & described a
terminal stage of schizophrenia wherein food selectivity was lost & indiscriminate eating, including pica (non-nutritive
eating) occurred. A number of medications, including psychotropics & antidepressants, specifically amytriptiline [115,
116], neuroleptics [115] & many other medications [115] increase appetite.
Furthermore, Vaupel & Morton [109] noted that a number of
abused substances, such as marijuana (Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) increased appetite.
Eating disorder syndromes may be found in increasing association
w/ substance abuse w/ more extensive clinical & diagnostic delineation.
Kleine-Levin syndrome is a rare disorder characterized
by the need for excessive amounts of sleep (hypersomnolence), (i.e., up to 20 hours a day); excessive food intake (compulsive
hyperphagia); & an abnormally uninhibited sexual drive.
The disorder primarily affects adolescent males. When awake, affected
individuals may exhibit irritability, lack of energy (lethargy), &/or lack of emotions (apathy).
They may also appear confused (disoriented) & experience hallucinations.
Symptoms of Kleine-Levin Syndrome are cyclical. An affected individual may go for weeks or months w/out experiencing symptoms.
When present, symptoms may persist for days to weeks. In some cases,
the symptoms associated w/ Kleine-Levin syndrome eventually disappear w/ advancing age. However, episodes may recur later
during life.
The exact cause of Kleine-Levin syndrome is not known. However,
researchers believe that in some cases, the disorder may be inherited as an autosomal dominant genetic trait. It is thought
that symptoms of Kleine-Levin syndrome may be related to malfunction of the portion of the brain that helps to regulate functions
such as sleep, appetite, and body temperature (hypothalamus).
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posted 5/28/07
The Addictive Process
Floyd P. Garrett, M.D.
The addictive process
is a recognizable psychological & behavioral syndrome that expresses itself in a particular individual in regard
to specific substances or processes but which exhibits a striking similarity & commonality among addicted individuals
regardless of their specific circumstances & particular addictions.
Addictions may be subdivided into:
- substance addictions, including
alcohol, various illicit &
licit drugs
- process addictions such as food,
sex, gambling, work & spending.
Crossover, switching of addictions, multiple addictions and a changing pattern of addiction are common but not universal
features of an underlying addictive illness with recognizable structural features of its own.
In depth understanding of
addictive processes must begin with the general & common features of addiction & move to the specifics of the addictive
expression in a specific individual. Whether the addiction is single or multiple, substance or process, legal or illegal or
an unstable & shifting combination of all the above, certain recurring & recognizable common features distinguish
addictive from non-addictive processes.
Characteristics of the addictive
process are:
- salience, obsession, abnormal or pathological importance of
the substance or behavior
- persistence, rigidity, stereotypy, inflexibility and repetition
of the particular addictive behavior
- relative immunity to adverse consequences and resistance to
learned modification of behavior
- the invocation of an interrelated system of psychological defenses which, like a string of military forts, function in concert to protect the individual from the
full realization and acknowledgement of the self- and other- harmful nature of his addiction and hence provide cover and concealment
for the continued expression of the addictive process.
Addictive fascination &
fixity of interest have been justly compared to the more commonly known stage of romantic or infatuated love in which the
lover thinks constantly of the beloved and pines and suffers when not in their presence. An individual in such a state of
mind is said to be obsessed with their love object and to subordinate every other aspect of their existence, including at
times their health, work, and other relationships to the fulfillment of the almost unbearable need and longing to be united
with their beloved. And we know from life as well as literature that so passionate and frequently desperate are such
lovers that at times they even die as a consequence of or for their love.
Anyone who understands the terrific drive and intensity that
underlies and propels well-established addictive illness will not be surprised at the difficulties individuals encounter when
attempting to control or terminate their addictive behaviors. In such situations the old saying 'The spirit is willing but
the flesh is weak' is an apt description of affairs once the individual has reached the stage of recognizing his addiction
and the need to do something about it. And in many if not most cases, such a recognition of harmful addiction may itself come
only very late in the course of the addictive process, which has long managed by means of the psychological defenses mentioned
above to conceal and therefore protect itself from the critical recognition of its host.
There are many paths and ways
to recover from addiction but all require the capacity for honesty with oneself and the willingness and ability to bear the
temporary but often intense discomforts associated with the loss of a love. And in almost all cases the recovering addict
must find ways to replace what he has lost with new and healthier ways of relating and dealing with life. Simply stopping
an addictive behavior by sheer force of personal will power is effective for some but certainly not all, and probably not
the majority of the addicted population. Such frontal assaults on the addiction are not infrequently successful for a while
- but if nothing else changes, the addiction is likely to reassert itself and perhaps in some cases grow even stronger.
The
modern medical understanding of addiction is called the medical model of addiction to distinguish it from the traditional
and still widely held moral model of addiction. Although scientific evidence is steadily accumulating incriminating
physical, physiologic and genetic(hereditary) factors in addiction, in many quarters addicts are still viewed as weak, bad
or immoral people. Worse still, that is the way the typical addict tends to view their own behavior. Ironically, the painful
feelings of guilt, shame and fear resulting from the conflict of addictive behavior with the individual's own values often
create states of unbearable inner stress that make it harder for the addict to refrain from resorting for relief to
the very addiction that is causing the negative feelings.
Addiction is now viewed by the scientific and medical community
as a disorder of brain functioning that, like all other disorders of bodily organs is significantly influenced and impacted
by a wide variety of personal, environmental, psychological and physical factors that may have nothing directly to do with
the addiction itself but which indirectly may advance or retard its expression in behavior and also influence recovery or
remission of the addictive illness.
source: Psychiatry & Wellness
just my own personal input on switching addictions....
kathleen howe
Not too long ago, in a People magazine, I read an article
about, "switching addictions." It's an interesting thought because while I'd been night eating since I was a little girl,
for some time throughout my teen years and in my 20's I was alcoholic.
I wasn't waking up at night to eat because I was passed out drunk most nights. Even in high
school, I'd dress in my mother's clothes and go out to a bar and drink until I was totally juiced or until the bar closed.
This behavior was very dangerous. Not only was I driving myself home drunk on those dark & curvy New England backroads,
I was ending up in strange places at 6:00 a.m. not knowing where my car was or where I was. Sometimes I'd wake up without
my clothes on sometimes in various states of undress.
And then in my 20's... geez, I was truly drinking so much. One day I was leaving one of the
Banana Boat bars in West Palm Beach, Florida - a lot tipsy - and as I stood next to my car, a man grabbed me, threw me into
the car from the driver's side, over the gear shift, and got into the driver's seat himself, starting my car and beginning
to drive down the street.
He was heading away from the populated areas. I was drunk but I was shocked into a semi-sober
state that I knew I had to get real and start thinking as to what to do. I was doing the usual demanding, screaming, crying
and finally when the guy got really creepy with what he was saying, I grabbed the keys straight out of the ignition and pretended
to throw them out the window into the grass beside the road.
Of course, the car couldn't be steered without the key so he drifted off the road and put
the car into neutral. He was so angry with me and that was scaring me more. He got out of the car to start looking for the
keys, cursing and yelling at me, when I slipped over into the driver's seat and drove away. He was screaming at me as I continued
driving away from him. I couldn't call the police because I was obviously intoxicated.
And then inbetween getting pregnant and nursing my kids, I'd have to get healthy.
I could eat though. Back to the night eating. I was bingeing in the daytime as
well during my first pregnancy. I was miserable. I gained 75 pounds.
There was even a short time when I was using some other drugs instead of drinking.
I could get obsessed and begin compulsive behaviors, addictive behaviors on many things that would keep me occupied, but never
happy.
So when this "switching addictions" article came by me, I was interested. Here's
some info about it, but I know it's possible. My only thoughts are - does that make night eating syndrome an addiction?
I don't think so, I think that the "unmet need" that is being self medicated uses
our vulnerabilities to satisfy itself. My weak link was eating and drinking alcohol. It wasn't meeting my need, but it was
comforting me or medicating me out of pain. I was numb, no doubt.
may 2007
Hi all... this is a very encouraging note to you all!
Maybe you've been to the homepage and read the posting that
there is a survey that night eaters can take at the Pennsylvania University Clinic for Weight & Eating Disorder website.
This survey is to collect information from night eaters who have been to a medical doctor trying to find out what is wrong
with them that they get up to eat in the night.
The Group at the Clinic are getting ready to release important
information to medical and mental health professional to educate them about night eating. The doctor at the Clinic, Dr. Albert
Stunkard and others have been doing research and studies on night eating since the year 1957 when Stunkard recognized the
disorder and began taking interest in it.
It's always a good think when awareness can be raised concerning
a disorder that people have been experiencing for years without any understanding or help!
Kathleen
January 1, 2006
Penn Study Reveals Prevalence of Night Eating
Syndrome Among People With Psychiatric Conditions
Findings Highlight Need for Screening and Treatment
(Philadelphia, PA) - According to a study that appears in the
January 1 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine and the University of Minnesota found that night eating syndrome is a common disorder among psychiatric
outpatients and is associated with substance use and obesity.
Night eating syndrome is a condition that is characterized by
two main features: excessive eating in the evening (hyperphagia) and nocturnal awakening with ingestion of food. Its prevalence
has been estimated to be 1.5% in the general population and 8.9% in an obesity clinic.
“This is the first study that looks at the connection
between psychiatric conditions and night eating syndrome,” said Jennifer D. Lundgren, PhD, lead author
of the paper and postdoctoral research associate in Penn’s Department of Psychiatry, Division of Weight and Eating Disorders.
“Night eating syndrome is often associated with life stress and depression, so we were particularly interested in looking
at the prevalence of the condition in this population,” said Lundgren.
The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental
Health and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.
Study Protocol
The study consisted
of 399 participants from psychiatric outpatient clinics. Participants were screened using a questionnaire to assess hunger
and craving patterns, percentage of calories consumed following the evening meal, insomnia and awakenings, nocturnal food
cravings and ingestions, and mood. Those who scored above cutoff on the questionnaire were then interviewed by phone and diagnosed
with night eating syndrome if one or both of the following criteria were met: 1) evening hyperphagia and/or 2) nocturnal awakenings
with ingestions of food occurring three or more times per week.
Conclusions
Based on the total
group of 399 participants, the prevalence of night eating syndrome was 12.3%, which exceeds the prevalence of the condition
in an obesity clinic.
The study revealed a significant effect of night eating syndrome
diagnosis on body mass index (subjects with night eating syndrome: mean = 33.1kg/m2; subjects without night eating syndrome:
mean = 27.7 kg/m2). Additionally, obesity was present in 57.1% of participants with night eating syndrome and obese patients
with psychiatric conditions were 5 times more likely than non-obese patients to exhibit the condition.
Substance abuse was also more likely to occur among patients
with night eating syndrome (30.6%) than among those without night eating syndrome (8.3%). It was reported that alcohol was
the most commonly abused substance.
“Given the prevalence of night eating syndrome among outpatients
with psychiatric conditions, our findings indicate that mental health practitioners will need to screen for and incorporate
appropriate treatment options into their practice,” said John P. O’Reardon, MD, a co-author of
the study, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Penn, and Director of Penn’s Treatment Resistant Depression Clinic.
Recent studies have found the antidepressant setraline (Zoloft®) to significantly improve symptoms of night eating syndrome,
including nocturnal ingestion and evening hyperphagia.
###
PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion
enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN
Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school)
and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Penn’s School of Medicine is ranked #2 in the nation
for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent ranking
of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized
worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System comprises:
its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, consistently rated one of the nation’s “Honor
Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; Penn Presbyterian
Medical Center; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home
health care and hospice.
source site: click here
Night eating syndrome
Snacking after supper is something most of us do at least sometimes.
There is something so appealing about a mid-evening bowl of popcorn or ice cream as we unwind and relax before bed.
Most of us also know these extra calories at the end of the
day are not all that helpful if we’re trying to lose weight.
For about one and a half per cent of us, night eating is more
substantial than a little post dinner snack. Night eating syndrome is a relatively new eating disorder causing distress for
those who experience it and often resulting in obesity.
To be diagnosed with this disorder, individuals must consume
at least a quarter of their daily calories after supper and may have middle of the night awakenings to eat at least three
times a week.
Generally, people with night eating syndrome have little appetite
during the day and often consume fewer calories than average over the course of a day. Insomnia, anxiety and mood symptoms
are also very common with this condition.
An average day may begin with little or no food consumed by
an individual with night eating syndrome. As the day progresses, night eaters become more depressed and agitated and seek
out high carbohydrate foods, which may be a form of self medication.
Night eaters tend to eat relatively small snacks (averaging
about 270 calories) but do so frequently throughout the night rather than a single large binge as is common in bulimia.
Although it affects not quite two per cent of the general population,
numbers are much higher among obese individuals. Between 10 and 15 per cent of obese people experience night eating syndrome
and it is considered one of the pathways to obesity.
More than simply indulging a bad habit, people with night eating
syndrome have a real clinical illness described as both an eating disorder and a disorder of mood and sleep, which affects
levels of sleep and appetite hormones (melatonin, leptin and cortisol) as well as neurotransmitters in the brain.
Viewed as a delay in the circadian rhythm of food intake, imaging
studies have shown significant elevation of serotonin transporters in the brains of night eaters.
Although the exact cause of this imbalance is not understood
it is thought to have a genetic basis.
Elevation of serotonin transporters is triggered by stress and
decreases serotonin transmission, which can impair circadian rhythms and feelings of fullness.
Because it is now known that night eaters have decreased serotonin
transmission, researchers felt common antidepressant medications selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) might alleviate
symptoms of night eating syndrome. New studies show the drugs do just that.
News of an effective treatment for night eating syndrome is
a welcome announcement with the potential to make a significant impact on obesity rates in our country – and to lessen
the significant distress this illness causes to those who experience it.
If you believe you may experience night eating syndrome, talk
to your doctor to learn more about the condition and treatment options.
source site: click here
posted 8/10/05 - although this article is addressing drug
addiction, it can also be applied to food addiction
A Body that Craves
Psychoactive substances might be a free ticket thru life if it weren’t for the physical addiction. The physical addiction drags you down. You begin using more but enjoying it less.
What
happens? You
go from wanting to use to a
feeling that you need to use. Deep down, your drug of choice becomes your medicine.
It seems to cure everything. The problem is that you begin feeling healthy only when you’re using & you feel sick whenever you stop.
For Joan, quitting pot wasn’t easy. Every time she stayed off of it for more than a day, she grew nervous
& upset & began getting angry at everyone around her.
Like clockwork, every time, by the end of the day, she'd say, “I can’t stand it anymore! I gotta
get high.” Her use of marijuana no longer seemed a choice.
Joan could go w/out pot for about a day. Others can go for 3 or 4 days or even a week, before they can’t
stand it anymore & have to toke up. Some users can't stay straight for more than a few hours w/out getting symptoms.
Although this description of physical addiction involves marijuana, the same dynamic holds true for other drugs. However, each class of drugs has its own specific abstinence
syndrome. In his book Drug & Alcohol Abuse, Dr. Milhorn rated the severity of abstinence syndrome for the various classes
of drugs.
These ratings, which varied on a scale from 0 to 4, w/4 being the most severe, were as follows:
Depressants: 4
Heroin, opiates &
the analgesics: 3
Cocaine, amphetamines &
other stimulants: 2
Marijuana: 2
Phencyclidines: 2
Inhalants: 1
Hallucinogens: 0
The severity of the abstinence syndrome relates directly to the severity of the physical addiction. Thus, these ratings give us an idea about how severe the physical addiction is for each class of drugs.
How long can you stay off your drug of choice before you begin to feel uncomfortable? Or, more significantly, how long can you stay completely straight, not using any drugs, before you begin to feel uncomfortable?
This period of time, between stopping your use & feeling that you need to use again, tells you something about the severity of your addiction: The shorter the period, the more severe the addiction.
Two Signs
There
are 2 signs to the physical addiction.
First, you begin needing more & more drug to get the same effects. This is called increasing tolerance.
Second, you begin to feel as if
you can’t get along w/out the drug. You feel more & more pain whenever you try to quit.
This sign of addiction is called withdrawal, also known as the abstinence syndrome.
“Tolerance” describes how much of a drug your body can handle. As your body
adjusts to the drug, your tolerance increases. What 2 bags of heroin did in the beginning might take 5, 10, 20 or even more
as tolerance increases. Your body finds its limit.
The second
sign of physical addiction, the "withdrawal syndrome," appears only when you take the drug away. Your body complains out loud & your
nervous system flashes urgent signals to the mind: “Give me another dose to calm me down”
or “Give me another dose to pick me up.”
As a rule of thumb, the longer & heavier your drug use, the more problems
you’ll experience during withdrawal. But also, as we just noted, the abstinence syndrome
varies according to the type of substance (or substances) you’ve been using.
Two Causes
Medical research shows 2 major causes of physical addiction. First, your cells adapt to the drug & second, your metabolism becomes more efficient.
Adaptation
in the cells. To your cells,
the drugs you’re using become a way of life. Every time you use a drug, your blood carries it to every cell in your
body. Your cells adjust. They grow to expect these doses on schedule.
Your cells learn to cope w/various drugs by defending themselves against the drugs’ toxic effects. Cell
walls harden to retain stability & reduce toxic damage. But as your cells get tough against drugs, gradually more &
more can be consumed. Your tolerance increases.
In the long run, however, cell walls break down. At this point, your cells not only lose their ability to keep
toxins out but also become unable to retain essential nutrients. Many of them stop functioning altogether or start functioning
abnormally. That’s when your organs (heart, brain, liver, or lungs), which are nothing more than whole systems of
cells, begin to fail.
The
problem w/metabolism.
Metabolism is intimately connected to diet. Your body metabolizes food (breaks it down into its constituent parts) to get vital nutrients to
all the cells. To serve this purpose, your body can metabolize many different foods & can learn
how to gain nutrients from almost any kind of food you give it.
Metabolism
also helps to rid the body of unwanted toxins. The liver is the key organ in this process. The liver “sees”
drugs as unwanted toxins & begins producing enzymes that will help eliminate them from the body.
It
produces a different combination of enzymes for each drug. Moreover, the liver becomes extremely efficient
at producing these enzymes.
The more it “sees” a particular drug, the more efficiently it produces the enzymes that inactivate
that drug.
Thus, a drug that you use often will get eliminated from the body w/ greater & greater efficiency. It’s
as if the liver begins to “expect” that drug & has enzymes ready & waiting. This is a key reason that
tolerance increases, that is, why it takes greater & greater doses of a drug to get the same original effects.
Yet your personal metabolism works differently from anyone else’s. Studies show that each individual has
a unique biochemical makeup & that individuals differ greatly from one another in the way they metabolize different foods,
drugs or toxins.
To give you an idea how much possible variation there is, researchers have presently identified over 3,000 metabolic
substances (called “metabolites”) & over 1,100 enzymes. Each individual has different proportions of all 4,100 of these biochemicals. Of the enzymes, only about 30 are responsible for metabolizing all drugs.
Also, the mixture of biochemicals varies for each kind of food you ingest.
i.e., your body uses different biochemicals to metabolize
the different classes of foods:
- meats
- grains
- vegetables
- beans
- fruits
- nuts
As you might have guessed, you need a whole different biochemical preparedness to handle:
- drugs
- alcohol
- sugars (pertaining to
white flour/white sugar foods so commonly eaten by night eaters)
- chemical additives
- toxins
However, your body adjusts to whatever diet you give it & the most frequent foods in your diet come to be
expected. Biochemical pathways become established the more they're used.
Thus, if your body doesn’t get an expected food, you actually begin to crave it.
In fact, your body becomes addicted to the foods you give it the most. Your metabolism so completely adjusts to your regular diet that any change from this diet
becomes increasingly difficult. Ask anyone who has attempted a major shift in diet.
i.e., if you eat meat regularly, your metabolism will take a long time to
adjust to a vegetarian diet. Although the same nutrients are available, your body doesn’t have the biochemical preparedness.
The ability is there. Your body can metabolize vegetarian meals. No problem. But
to gain the same efficiency w/a new diet can take from 1 to 7 years.
The important thing to remember is this: Metabolism depends on diet. For our purposes, “diet” includes
not only the nutritious foods but also the non-nutritious foods, such as sugar & alcohol,
as well as other substances, such as chemical additives in foods, environmental toxins & drugs.
You can change your metabolism if you change your diet. Although it will take a long time to change your metabolism
significantly, you’ll feel incredible improvements after just a few months. You’ll discover the kinds of changes
you need to make further down.
A
Brain that Craves
All
drugs of abuse have one thing in common:
They’re fat soluble enough to get into the brain & once there, to alter its neurochemistry.
Most drugs of abuse affect the neurochemicals that activate the brain’s pleasure circuits. These drugs
reward us w/feelings of pleasure.
Only a minority of us become addicted to drugs, but for those who do, it’s the feelings of pleasure that become so completely compelling. The brain loves
the pleasurable sensations. The brain loves this so much that it gets addicted. That’s why the brain begins
to crave the pleasure-producing drugs every time we stop using them.
This mental attachment to drugs, this craving, has become known
as the “psychological addiction.”
Some drugs have little effect on the brain’s pleasure circuits.
i.e., the hallucinogens stimulate
serotonin,
a neurochemical found mainly in the cortex of the brain. This is the site in the brain where abstract thinking occurs. Perhaps because of this, the hallucinogens are less psychologically addicting than drugs such as cocaine or heroin, which stimulate the pleasure center directly.
Also, drugs that stimulate the pleasure center during the “high” cause the reverse
effect during withdrawal. During withdrawal nothing seems pleasurable. Life itself becomes raw & painful. Depression sets in.
The deeper we get into our addiction, the more extreme each withdrawal becomes & thus the stronger our psychological
craving for the drug.
In his booklet Drugs of Abuse, Dr. Samuel Irwin rated the psychological addiction potential for various drugs.
The ratings, based on a scale from 0 to 5, w/5 being the highest, are as follows:
Heroin: 5
Stimulants (cocaine &
amphetamines): 5
Sedatives: 4
Marijuana: 3
Inhalants: 3
PCP: 3
LSD: 2
Avoiding Misery
We become addicted to drugs partly as a way to avoid life’s misery. In our minds at least, we become unwilling to suffer.
Real life is loaded w/suffering. We not only experience myriad physical pains but also must cope w/psychological
pain. Many events make us ache inside.
Things
happen that cause us to feel:
But we can avoid these feelings, at least for the moment, by using drugs. We can do drugs & almost instantly feel “high.”
We can forget about life for a while.
We can experience:
Of course, in the long run drugs become less & less effective at bringing these benefits. Over time, the
drugs themselves start causing suffering.
Soon, we find we’re using drugs to relieve the misery that drugs themselves
have caused. This is known as the “vicious cycle of addiction.”
It goes something like this:
- Life doesn’t feel
too good.
- Bang! Try this drug or
that drug & things feel better.
- Come down off the drug
& things feel worse, just a little worse than they did before you took the drug in the first place.
- No matter.
- Bang! Use the drug &
feel good again.
- Gradually, your biochemistry
changes.
- Your
brain learns that it doesn’t have to keep producing the chemicals that make you feel good.
These chemicals keep appearing w/out the brain having to do any work.
That’s why each time you try to get off the drugs, you feel a little worse than the time before. It becomes
harder & harder for you to get off the drugs because you feel so bad whenever you try to stop.
And it all started w/suffering, w/your inability to accept suffering as an intimate part of life. You can break a drug habit anywhere along the way, or never start w/drugs at all,
simply by accepting life’s suffering & facing the suffering
head-on.
This doesn’t mean that you'll live a sad, miserable & tormented life. There are plenty of ways you can face your suffering & then cope
w/it. In fact, once you learn these ways & begin using some of them, you’ll feel as if your spirit has been renewed.
Of course, it’s your choice.
If you choose drugs to cope w/life’s suffering, you choose a buy-now-pay-later method. It works in the
moment, but it just postpones the suffering. And by postponing it, it builds up, so that when you finally do face it, the
suffering is immense.
The detoxification from drugs might take a week or two, but the long-term withdrawal, the period of time when
your biochemistry (&
thus your physical & mental health) returns to normal, can take years.
Luckily, during this time, you gradually feel a little bit better, day by day.
This book gives you another choice. In it, you’ll find more than 100 techniques to help you quit using
drugs. There are physical, mental, emotional & spiritual techniques. Each one of these offers you another way to cope
w/some aspect of life’s suffering. Each one offers you another way to feel good.
Disease, Health & Addiction
Is drug addiction a disease? There’s much confusion.
Sit for a while in a crack house w/any crack star & ask if she has a disease. She’ll tell you no, even
though she might be quick to admit that she’s addicted to crack.
But ask any recovering cocaine addict in Narcotics Anonymous (NA). She’ll tell you that she has a disease
& that she has this disease whether or not she’s using.
Each of them is partly right. Drug addiction starts a disease process. This process progresses when you’re using. It stops when you stop using. And when you stop
using, you can heal much of the damage from the disease if you change your diet & lifestyle.
Drug addiction fits the definition of disease. Like other diseases, drug addiction impairs your health by damaging your cells. Like other diseases, it interrupts your body’s vital functions, causing
specific symptoms. And like other diseases such as cancer, if it’s allowed to continue long enough, it can kill you.
But as a disease, it has an ironic twist. The agent causing the disease acts like a medicine that cures the symptoms.
Drug-addicted users actually feel healthier when they’re using. Pain & sickness seem to disappear.
Unfortunately, the sense of health is artificial. When using, you relieve yourself of the symptoms only. Meanwhile,
inside your body, the disease process continues.
Drug use wears out your body & actually speeds up the aging process. Your cells live their lives in the fast
lane of chemical stimulation & toxic invaders, grabbing a few thrills but choking on the poisons. You begin to feel worn
out. You get physically sick more often or you feel some slight sickness that lingers & is hard to pinpoint.
When cells don’t get sufficient nutrients, or if the
cells are harmed too often by toxins in the blood, they stop performing important functions. After a while, whole groups of
cells begin giving out & organs begin to fail. Especially susceptible are the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines,
kidneys & stomach.
Becoming Whole Again
Yes,
there is a cure for drug addiction.
Your basic goal: to change your metabolism & your brain chemistry for greater health. This means that you need to eliminate drugs, toxins & some addictive foods from your diet & change some other parts of your diet as well.
It
also means that you need to find ways to reduce stress, to accept life's routine suffering & to begin enjoying yourself w/out using drugs.
Then wait.
Why wait? Because
once the healing process begins, it takes time to recover.
- Your body needs time to repair the damage.
- Your nervous system needs time to repair the damage.
- It'll take a while for
your mind to settle.
But
the best news is that you begin healing right away. In fact, the healthier your new lifestyle, the faster you’ll heal.
You can heal most of your cells that have been damaged, at least to some degree. But the biggest thing you have going for
you is your body’s replacement policy.
Your
body creates new cells every day, about 300 to 400 million per day! These new cells replace old & dying cells. When you
stop using drugs, the new cells your body creates will not be “drug-addicted” cells.
They’ll
never have experienced drugs. These new cells will be healthy, especially if you continue to follow a healthy diet & lifestyle.
Scientists
say that every 7 years the body replaces every cell (except nerve cells) at least once. That means that the body renews itself &
becomes a new conglomeration of cells, a new you, every 7 years!
This new you begins every day. If you pay attention, you can feel it.
Ugly Truths about White Flour
Highly processed white flour (alias “enriched wheat flour”
or “wheat flour”) is missing the two most nutritious and fiber-rich parts of the seed: the outside bran layer and the germ (embryo).
A diet of refined foods leaves many women malnourished,
constipated, enervated and vulnerable to chronic illness. Popping fiber, vitamins and mineral supplements, in the hope of compensating for what's missing from our diet,
will not work. For just as "enriching" refined flour with spray-on nutrients can't make up for those lost during refining, health experts
say supplements can never replace whole foods.
Diet containing too much sugar can quickly cause
weight gain
Just about any food can be part of
a healthy diet if taken in recommended amounts. Sugars are
the simplest form of carbohydrate - which can be natural such as lactose (milk sugar) or fructose (fruit sugar) or can
be refined such as sucrose (table sugar). All Starchy and sweet foods (even fruits) raise blood sugar quickly. When
eaten they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing a rise in the hormone insulin which acts to clear sugar and
fat from the blood and to be stored in the tissues for future use. This causes weight gain.
previous news.....
Doughnuts in the Dark
New treatments offer hope for night eating disorders
Open all night: Doctors are beginning to search for serious
solutions to night-eating problems
By Anne Underwood Newsweek
April 5 issue - Shelly's Snack Shop was the name that Brian
Egemo of Badger, Iowa, applied to his wife's side of the bed. In 1994 Shelly, who had been a sleepwalker as a child, began
sleepwalking again. But this time, her nightly rambles took her to the kitchen for cookies, candy and potato chips, which
she would bring back to bed and devour while still asleep. "In the morning, there would be frosting in my hair and M&M's
stuck to my husband's back," she says. Worse yet, she woke up feeling exhausted and sick from all the junk food. After years
of this "sleep eating," her nerves were so jangled that she became unglued at the slightest upset. "Someone would knock over
the salt shaker and I'd go into orbit," she says. It wasn't until 2001 that Egemo, now 37, found a doctor who could tell her
what her problem was and how to treat it.
Egemo's condition is called sleep-related
eating disorder (SRED), and it's one of two night eating problems that doctors are just beginning to take seriously.
The other is night eating syndrome (NES), in which patients wake multiple times during the
night and are unable to fall asleep again unless they eat something.
Although the two differ in some important ways - most notably,
whether the person is conscious or not - they share many similarities. Both are hybrids of sleep and eating disorders. And
both take over the lives of patients, destroying good nutrition, instilling
deep shame and often causing depression and weight gain.
According to psychiatrist John Winkelman of Harvard Medical
School, the two conditions may affect 1% of the population - nearly 3 million Americans. "People who suffer from this think
they're alone," says Dr. Albert Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania Weight and Eating Disorders Program, who identified
both NES and binge eating in the 1950s. "They need to know that it's a real disorder and there are treatments." With psychologist
Kelly Allison, Stunkard has written a book called "Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome," due out in early May.
The consequences of night eating disorders
are profound. In addition to sabotaging good-quality sleep, both conditions can seriously undermine attempts to maintain a
well-balanced diet. People with SRED occasionally try to eat such bizarre concoctions as buttered cigarettes or smoothies
of egg shells, coffee grounds and soda.
But the real problem is that in the middle
of the night, no one gets up and fixes healthful salads, fish or vegetables. Instead, people reach for food that's ready to
eatmost often, junk food. "It sets up a vicious cycle, where they feel bloated so they don't want to eat during the day,"
says Dr. Carlos Schenck of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, who identified SRED in 1993.
Not surprisingly, night eating often contributes
to weight gain. Stunkard has found NES in 6 to 7% of people in weight-loss programs and up to 28% of those seeking gastric-bypass
surgery.
Frustrated patients say their behavior
seems totally beyond their control. "I wasn't even hungry," says pediatrician Edward Rosof, 58, of Cherry Hill, N.J., who
suffered from NES for 35 years. "It was a craving, like being an alcoholic. Every night I promised
myself it was the last time."
But even when he tried to resist the impulse,
he'd lose the battle after 10 or 15 minutes because he feared that he wouldn't get back to sleep. Other desperate patients
have asked spouses to put locks on the refrigerator or even lock the bedroom door at night.
At last, new treatments are helping them unlock those doors.
In a pilot study, Stunkard and psychiatrist John O'Reardon have discovered that the antidepressant Zoloft may help NES patients
like Rosof, who's dropped 40 pounds since he started taking it a year ago.
And Schenck and Winkelman have found two drug cocktails that
appear to help 70% of SRED patients. Within two weeks of starting one of them, Shelly Egemo was feeling better. Her good humor
is back. Best of all, Shelly's Snack Shop is out of business.
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
Parasomnias Often Under-recognized, Misunderstood
Research points way to new treatments for sleepwalking, sleep sex & other parasomnias.
By Charlene
Laino
WebMD Feature
Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
A woman wakes up to find she has eaten all the
butter out of the refrigerator. Across the country, the family of a middle-aged man is startled to find a pile of black coal
on their white living room rug in the morning. A sleeping child jerks up in bed and lets out a piercing scream, a look of
sheer terror on his face. A wife says "there is no stopping" her husband when he initiates sex in his sleep at least once
a month -- during which, she says, he is both more aggressive and more amorous than when he is awake.
Their stories may differ radically, but all
these people have one thing in common: They suffer from often misunderstood and under-recognized sleep-related disorders known
collectively as parasomnias, their doctors tell WebMD. From sleep eating and sleepwalking to night terrors and sleep sex,
"parasomnias are things that go bump in the night -- unusual, out-of-the-ordinary events that occur during sleep or arousal
from sleep," says Colin M. Shapiro, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto who recently published
an article describing 11 patients with sexsomnia in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Knowledge of parasomnias has exploded in recent
years, with new disorders recognized and known disorders reported to occur more frequently than previously thought, says Carlos
H. Schenck, MD, senior staff psychiatrist at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center
and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Left untreated, or misdiagnosed as psychiatric
problems, parasomnias can have dire consequences: The sleepwalker may hurl himself out the window; the sexsomniac may actually
rape his or her spouse. The good news, sleep specialists tell WebMD, is that a better understanding of parasomnias' roots
has led to new treatments -- and in some cases, even cures.
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Night Eating: Another Disorder of Sleep & Eating A similar sleep-related eating disorder has also been
clinically described. It's different from sleep eating in that the individual is awake during episodes of nocturnal bingeing.
This disorder has many names:
- nocturnal eating (or drinking) syndrome
- nighttime hunger
- nocturnal eating
- night eating or drinking (syndrome)
- "Dagwood" syndrome
Affected individuals are physically unable to
sleep w/out food intake.
The Merck Manual lists night eating under the
heading obesity. It states that the disorder:
"consists of morning anorexia,
excessive ingestion of food in the evening & insomnia."
Because night eating is associated w/increased
weight gain as well as insomnia, this may cause the individual stress, anxiety, or depression.
Night eating or drinking may occur once or many
times during the night. It's diagnosed when 50% or more of an individual's diet is consumed between sleeping hours.
Unlike sleep eaters, this person will eat foods
that are similar to his/her normal diet.
People who are night eaters typically avoid
food until noon or later, eat small portions frequently when they do eat & binge in the evening. They are usually overweight
& in adults, overly stressed or anxious.
They will also complain of not being able to
maintain sleep or not being able to initiate sleep. For night eaters, the urge to eat is an abnormal need, rather than true
hunger, according to an article in Sleep by Italian researchers (September 1997; 20(9): 734-738).
Night eaters/drinkers are usually children,
although the disorder can occur in adults. For children, eating or drinking at night is a conditioned behavior. This is a
common occurrence for babies, but most infants can sleep the entire night by the age of 6 months.
Sleep disturbance can persist to an older age
if the child is allowed a bottle or drinks throughout the night. An older child may consistently wake up during the night
& ask for a drink or something to eat & refuse to return to bed until the snack is consumed.
In this case, the caregiver should identify
actual need versus repeated requests.
According to the International Classification
of Sleep Disorders, night eating is characterized as a dyssomnia (as opposed to sleep eating, which is considered a parasomnia).
A dyssomnia is a disorder of sleep or wakefulness in which insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness daytime sleepiness is
a complaint.
Within the heading of dyssomnia, night eating
is classified as an extrinsic sleep disorder, which means that it originates, develops or is caused by an external source.
Eating or drinking at night is usually a conditioned,
conscious behavior; although it is a disorder, in many cases night eating is not caused by a psychological or medical condition.
Night eating may arise because of an ulcer,
by dieting during the day, by undue stress or by a routine expectation (conditioned behavior). Hypoglycemia, or low blood
sugar, has also been proposed as possible cause of nighttime bingeing in some people.
This can be determined by a glucose tolerance
test.
How is Night Eating Treated?
For children, treatment of this disorder mainly involves the caregiver. For a young child, weaning from
the breast, bottle, or drinks during the night is essential. The adult should evaluate if the request for food or drink is
based on real need.
If the demand is false, the adult should deny
the request. Eventually, waking up w/the urge for food or drink will be eliminated.
For an adult, it is important to first recognize
that the behavior is not normal. (If the pattern of eating at night has been persistent for a long time, a night eater may
only complain of insomnia & weight gain.)
Secondly, a night eater should schedule an appointment
w/a physician. Night eating may be the result of a medical condition or hypoglycemia, both of which can be treated.
If not, the habit of eating in the middle of
the night can be broken w/behavior modification &/or stress reduction. Eating frequent small meals during the day beginning
in the morning, reducing carbohydrate intake & increasing protein intake before bedtime are diet patterns that may help.
Protein metabolizes slowly & will stabilize
blood sugar levels during sleep. Contrary to protein, sugary snacks raise the blood sugar quickly, then cause it to plunge.
So, avoid sweet foods before bedtime.
Night eaters who have conquered their uncontrollable
need for nocturnal food or drink often sleep equally as well or better than before they started night eating.
© 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
TALK ABOUT SLEEP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
info@talkaboutsleep.com
TALK ABOUT SLEEP, Inc.
PO Box 146
Chaska,
MN 55318
Telephone (952) 448-5511
Crumbs on Your Pillow? You May Be Risking Obesity
By Alison McCook
Tuesday,
April 20, 2004
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A condition that causes people to
wake up several times a night & eat may put them on a path towards obesity, a new study suggests.
U.S. researchers found that normal-weight people w/ the condition,
known as night eating syndrome (NES), resembled obese people with NES in their eating habits & other behaviors, except
that people w/ NES who were obese were almost 9 years older than non-obese night eaters.
Furthermore, many obese night eaters reported that they believed
their tendency to snack at night preceded their weight gain, the authors note.
These findings suggest that NES is more than just an inconvenience
that interferes with getting a good night's sleep, study author Dr. Albert Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania told
Reuters Health.
"After night eating for a few years, you become obese," he said.
Stunkard explained that people with NES typically wake up between
1 and 4 times each night, & snack on about 300 calories worth of food. Many people w/NES are sleep-deprived as a result,
or feel frustrated that they cannot control their cravings, he said.
He added that people w/NES are typically fully conscious of
their eating habits. In contrast, people w/another type of night eating problem will snack while sleepwalking & are often
unaware of their behavior.
Approximately 1.5% of the population has NES, but the condition
has been found in up to 15% of people who are obese.
As part of their report in the International Journal of Eating
Disorders, Stunkard & his team asked 40 non-obese & 61 obese people w/ NES to answer questions about their eating
habits.
The researchers found that both groups shared many of the same
eating & sleeping habits. For instance, both had an equal amount of trouble sleeping, the same morning appetites &
felt the same level of control over night eating.
However, non-obese night eaters were almost 9 years younger
than obese night eaters & tended to have NES for between 3 & 7 years less than obese night eaters, suggesting that
the condition leads to weight gain after a while.
SOURCE: International Journal of Eating Disorders, March 2004.
Albert J. Stunkard, M.D.
Albert Stunkard, M.D. is a professor of Psychiatry at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where he founded the Weight & Eating Disorders Program, of which he is currently Emeritus
Director.
Dr. Stunkard received a B.S. from Yale University in 1943 &
an M.D. from Columbia University in 1945. A major research interest is genetic influences on obesity in childhood & among
the Old Order Amish.
He is currently conducting a large-scale prospective longitudinal
study of the growth & development of children at high risk of obesity. He also studies deviant eating patterns, having
been the first to describe binge eating & having developed treatment for binge eating disorder.
He is currently investigating a new eating disorder:- the night
eating syndrome. He is the author of nearly 400 publications, mostly in the field of obesity & his research has been supported
for 40 years by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Stunkard has served as Past President of the American Association
of Chairmen of Departments of Psychiatry, the Association for Research in Nervous & Mental Diseases, the American Psychosomatic
Society, the Society of Behavioral Medicine & the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research & he serves on the editorial
boards of 7 journals in the fields of nutrition & behavioral medicine.
Five representative publications are:
Birketvedt GS, Florholmen J, Sundsfjne J, Osterud B, Dinges
D, Bilken W, Stunkard AJ. Behavioral and neuroendocrine characteristics of the night eating syndrome. JAMA, 282: 657-663,
1999.
Stunkard AJ, Berkowitz RI, Wadden TA, Tanrikut C, Reiss E, Young
L. Binge eating disorder and the night eating syndrome. International Journal of Obesity 20: 1-6, 1996.
Stunkard AJ, Berkowitz RI, Tanrikut C, Reiss E, Young L. d-fenfluramine
treatment of binge eating disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 153: 1455-1459, 1996.
Vogler GP, Sorensen TIA, Stunkard AJ, Srinivasan MR, Rao DC.
Influences of genes and shared family environment on adult body mass index assessed in an adoption study by a comprehensive
path model. International Journal of Obesity 19: 40-45, 1995.
Stunkard AJ, Harris JR, Pedersen NL, McClearn GE. The body mass
index of twins who have been reared apart. New England Journal of Medicine 322:1483-1487, 1990.
This page last updated March 11, 2003. For questions or feedback, contact us.
Relaxation Techniques May Help Prevent Night Eating SyndromeA DGReview of :"Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation training on
stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns"International Journal of Obesity and Related
Metabolic Disorders
07/30/2003
By Emma Hitt, PhD
New research suggests that muscle relaxation
and stress reduction techniques may help prevent night eating syndrome (NES), a condition characterised by consumption of
more than half of daily food intake in the evening and sleeping difficulty.
According to Laura A. Pawlow, PhD, with
the Weight Management Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, United States and colleagues, previous
studies have linked NES with stress and with poor results at attempts to lose weight. The condition is thought to affect 1.5%
of the general population and 8.9% of patients in weight reduction programs.
In their study of 20 adults with NES, the researchers sought
to determine whether a relaxation intervention (Abbreviated Progressive Muscle Relaxation Therapy, APRT), would significantly
reduce stress levels in healthy adults who reported symptoms of NES.
Subjects were randomised to either an intervention
group that participated for 20 minutes in guided APRT exercises, or a control group that sat quietly for the same amount of
time. All subjects attended two sessions 1 week apart. Patients were assessed for levels of stress, anxiety, relaxation, and
salivary cortisol before and after the sessions. In addition, indices of mood at days 1 and 8 and food diaries and hunger
ratings were obtained.
"After practicing these exercises daily for a week, subjects exhibited lowered stress, anxiety,
fatigue, anger, and depression on day 8," the researchers note. "APRT was also associated with significantly higher a.m. and
lower p.m. ratings of hunger, and a trend of both more breakfast and less night-time eating," they add.
Dr. Pawlow
and colleagues conclude that the data "support the role of stress and anxiety in NES and suggest that practicing relaxation
may be an important component of treatment for this condition."
"By impacting all of the adverse factors associated
with NES (stress, mood, eating patterns, hunger, and weight), APRT may prove able to break the negative cycle of irregular
hunger and eating patterns, stress, and dysphoria that night eaters suffer," they add.
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2003;27:8:970-978.
"Night eating syndrome: effects of brief relaxation
training on stress, mood, hunger, and eating patterns"
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Keep a journal of thoughts and emotions. 